I honestly think that Apple makes the best MP3 player on the market.  I know there are a lot of people that would like to debate that point, but in my mind, and in my opinion, even though they didn’t release the first player, they were the first ones to get the experience right.  They win; but again, that’s a personal opinion…

Recently I bought my daughter a 4G (RED) Nano for Christmas.  Her grandparents “bought” her a white and red Samsung Propel (she got a Visa gift card that we used to purchase the phone).  It was a, uh-hem... Hard Candy Christmas, as most everything she got was white and red.

Just before the Holiday’s kicked in here in The States, I was approached by Vaja and asked if I wanted to review their iVolution Grip Case for the 4G Nano, I jumped at the opportunity. Let’s take a quick look and see how things went with the case.

As always, Vaja cases are the best. Period.  I love their customization options and the ability to see the configured case before it actually is ordered and shipped.  The above is taken directly from their configurator on their website.  Truly awesome.

The case that I had made for my daughter is white with a red interior.  Its a perfect match for her Nano, and a perfect match for her phone. I also had it made with a Go Clip, so she could hang it from a belt look and still pull it off and reattach it easily.

The clip was a winner, as I knew it would be.  The case has a couple of issues that need to be pointed out. Its very difficult to get the Nano in the case, as you can see below.

Trying to insert the Nano into the case. Not easy…

In order to get the device in the case, you have to initially rock it back and forth to get it started.

The 4G Nano doesn’t go in easily & has to be forced

After you get the case started, you really have to push hard to get the Nano in the case. Please note that the red interior leather and the red of the Nano itself are very close, if not identical.  I really have to commend Vaja on this.  The case with this color choice is the perfect accessory for my daughter’s Nano.

The Nano (finally) in the case

It really took a bit to get the Nano in the Grip case.  I had my daughter demo it for me and then I tried to do it myself.  This was NOT easy at all. That’s both good and bad.  The case is NOT coming off.

A close up of the Nano in the case. Notice the gap at the bottom…

Notice the gap at the bottom of the case?  This is as far as we could get the case on without seriously bending and tweaking the daylights out of the case.  It wasn’t going to budge after this.

Trying to adjust the Nano in the case to close the gap.

But we did try...

A close of of adjusting the case

...and try...

It moves no farther. Notice the scuff marks on the bottom…

It got a little better, but not much. Please notice the scuff marks at the bottom of the case. The leather will eventually wear to the point that its going to come away from the body of the case...

Normal wear and tear. The case is damaged after only 19 days…

The case did in fact get a cut in the side. This, from just sitting in my daughter’s purse.  I’m not sure what cut the case.  She doesn’t carry any keys...

Inserting the earphones is not an easy job due to the gap

Due to the gap at the end of the case, inserting the headphones as well as the sync/charge cable isn’t easy. You really have to force the point.

The end of the earphones rolls up against the case when inserted…

The case doesn’t have any kind of recessed area on the side of the case where the headphone jack is located, so the jack is difficult to insert. The case also causes the rubber around the base of the case to rise up and roll back a bit.

…and causes the earphones to pop out, stopping playback

After a while, the rubber returns to its original position on the jack, and causes the headset to come out of the jack, stopping the device from playing music.

Trying to remove the Nano from the case…

Getting the Nano out of the case isn’t easy.  You really have to force it  to get it to move. 

Trying to remove the Nano from the case. Not easy…

If that doesn’t work, you have to old either side of the case and pry it backwards, forcing the case open a bit.  This allows the device to move, and come out a little easier; but you risk bending the case and ruining it.

Price: As reviewed, the Vaja iVolution Grip Case for the 4G iPod Nano is $44.00 USD.  The base price for the case is a reasonable $30.00 USD.

What She Liked: The look and feel of the case. Its very luxurious and rich. We were both very impressed with the looks of the case.

What needs Improvement: The leather used is very thin and scuffed and cut easily.  After just under 3 weeks of use, the case has at least 4 spots on it where the leather has been damaged. The case was never abused or mistreated. The case was very difficult to get on and off the Nano. The case needs a small recession on the bottom to accommodate the headphone jack.

Broadband networking.

Its something that EVERYONE wants in their home…in every home across America... heck, in every home across the world. The biggest problem with getting broadband in your home is not necessarily availability (though that is an issue), but piping the signal though your home. 

While 802.11(b/g/n) is easy enough to configure and easy enough to implement, its not always the most cost effective, and then there’s always the issue of signal penetration in your home.  Its one of the main reasons why I don’t have a wireless router in my home. The signal simply won’t reach up to the second floor where my bedrooms are (my cable modem connection is in my basement, see above).

This is the Home Net wall mount connected to my router (the connection you see coming out of the bottom of the unit comes from my router.  This is the master link that connects the router’s network signal to the power lines in my home

This is the second wall unit in my living room.  Yes, I have my wireless router up, but my daughters G4 Powerbook doesn’t have WiFi in it, so she needs this in order to be able to surf and get mail.

This is Amanda (and Bella, my standard poodle), surfng…likely on MySpace or Facebook or some such nonsense.  As you can see, she’s plugged in to both a Corniex Home Net unit as well as AC Power.  Amanda’s Propel and Nano are on the couch next to her.

The Home Net unit connected to my router stays in the plug that its in. It never moves.  The second unit can move anywhere in the house. In fact, I can put more than one wall mount unit, into any plug or extension cord anywhere in the house. It doesn’t matter. As long as it has AC coming to it from a line in the house, it has a 200 mbs network signal coming to it.

While 200mbs is better than the wireless b/g signal I’ve also got flowing through the house, it isn’t as convenient.  While Powerline Networking is nearly 4x faster than 802.11b, you’re still tied to some kind of cord/tether (however, did I mention that is is 4x faster..?)

If you need a network connection away from your wireless router, and you don’t have CAT5/6 running through you house (as most American’s don’t); or you simply don’t have wireless and don’t have that type of networking in your home, then GameNet or HomeNet may be your ticket.

Honestly, these units are interchangeable, mixable, and provide a reliable network signal throughout your home. The only problem I had with them was that I couldn’t split the signal via a Linksys hub or switch and get more than one PC to share the signal at the same time (only one PC could get on at a time), despite what any Corinex representative said.

However, this is a solid product, delivering a solid solution. If wireless just isn’t an option or if you want better than wireless speeds in your home, you really need to check these out, as they are one of the easiest networking implementations I’ve ever bumped into.

Price: GameNet and HomeNet (basically the same thing) are available from Micro Center for $139.99.  They are also available via Amazon, Buy.com, and New Egg, among others.

What I liked: Being able to push my home network signal anywhere in the house regardless of the presence of CAT5/6 wiring or not.

What needs Improvement: I wasn’t able to put the signal into a hug or switch so that I could split it, though Corinex claims that you can.  Another colleague of mine who was also evaluating the products were not able to split the signal via hub or switch, either.

This isn’t new news to anyone, but its significant in that most everyone will be able to get DRM free music out of iTunes.  Ever since the dawn of iTunes, music has been tied to your Apple ID, and not playable on anything other than an authorized computer and a connected iPod (be it a Shuffle, Nano, iPod, Touch, iPhone, etc.)

Recently, Apple has cut deals that will finally enable iTunes to offer DRM free songs from the three largest music labels, according to two sources close to the negotiations. In exchange, Apple has agreed bend on their pricing schemes.

Under the terms of the deal, song prices will be broken down into three categories:

older songs from the catalog,
midline songs (newer songs that aren't big hits),
and current hits

Apple has offered songs free of digital rights management protections from EMI for more than a year; but EMI accounts for less than 10 percent of music sold in the U.S. This new deal will expand iTunes' DRM-free library to include songs from Sony BMG, Universal, and Warner Music.

While DRM free music is going to make most everyone happy, it does come with a caveat – increased cost. While many have been happy with Apple’s ability and hard line against tiered pricing, it seems that they gave in to expand their catalog.  In a way, I can’t blame them.  Getting music from the other labels was an important win for them.

The upside to all of this that catalog music is falling from $.99 to $.79 per song. Hit singles will likely be priced above $.99, but they will eventually fall to $.79.  Before anyone gets upset at the price increases they have likely, already seen, we haven’t had a price increase in the iTunes Music Store for over 5 years.  Songs that were $.99 in 2002 would cost $1.71 today, following inflation, and other cost indicators.

One of the things that you may have noticed is a special offer to remove the DRM from all of your current music. The cost will differ depending on the type and amount of music you’ve purchased. I’m also not certain how long the offer will last.  If DRM free is something that’s important to you for your older music, you may want to jump on this offer while it lasts...

If you’ve been following the series that Dan and I have been doing on the MSI Wind, then you need to take a look at this.  There’s a quick update you can make the the Darwin Boot Loader on the OSX side that will give your multi-booting Wind a bit more polish.

If you’re triple booting your Wind, you’ll notice that when you select OSX from , say Grub, the Darwin Bootloader is activated, and it counts down from the default of 5 seconds to 0 before it boots into Leopard.  To bypass this, until now, I’ve been hitting enter about 3 or so times to select OSX in Grub, then again once I get to Darwin to stop the countdown clock, and then again to actually activate OSX.  OK, but not cool.

If you have named your OSX volume, “OSX” (as I have” then follow the following instructions to modify the Darwin Bootloader XML file to permanently shorten the countdown time. (If you’ve named your OSX volume something else, then substitute the first OSX with your OSX drive’s name.)

1. Boot into OSX
2. Open a Finder window and navigate to \OSX\Library\Preferences\SystemConfiguration\com.apple.Boot.plist
3. Change the Timeout value to whatever you want. I chose a value of 1

If the system won’t let you save the file due to insufficient permissions (I had this problem), exit the file without saving your changes, and then right click on the SystemConfiguration folder and choose, “Get Info.”

In the Sharing and Permissions section change the “admin” permissions to
"Read & Write,” and reboot the Wind back into OSX. Repeat the above process and you should be able to save the file.  If you want to switch the permissions back after this, you can.

Editing this Timeout value can be valuable to dualbooters as well that want to shorten the countdown time.  In actuality, the 5 seconds is closer to 7 as Darwin starts, displays the OS options and the countdown time, and THEN starts counting down.

I would NOT recommend setting this value to 0, as you may not have enough time to interrupt the boot process should you need to (and then you’ll have to edit the Boot.plist file, and change the value anyway...)

If you’re looking for most of the Wind related articles, I’ve pulled them together below, in chronological order, starting with Dan’s great Hackintosh article (it kind of kicked the whole thing off).

The MSI Wind Series on Gear Diary:
The Creation of a Hackintosh
Tricking Out The MSI WindOSX - Part 1- Adding an SSD
Tricking Out The MSI WindOSX - Part 2- Noreve Leather Case
Gear Diary’s Favorite Gadgets of the Year 2008
Blowing in the Breeze Part 2 - OSX 10.5.6 & the MSI Wind
Blowing in the Breeze Part 3 - Dual Booting the MSI Wind
Review- PDAir Leather Case for MSI Wind (Brown)
How To- Dual Booting the MSI Wind
Blowin’ in the Breeze Part 4 - Update on Windows 7
Dual Booting the Wind - OSX and Windows 7
MSI Wind BIOS Updated

Shuh. Finally!

Palm has finally sunsetted its much outdated and overly much long in the tooth PalmOS in favor of the Pre's new WebOS.  Now, all it has to do is convince over 30,000 PalmOS developers (who have created over 100,000 PalmOS apps) to embrace the new mobile operating system and develop (or port) their applications for/to it.

Last week, Ed Colligan, Palm's CEO did his best to convince these development partners to do just that at a investor's conference in San Francisco.  According to Colligan, the Centro is going to be the last Palm device with PalmOS on it. All other devices coming from Palm will have WebOS, or Windows Mobile/Phone.

He also nearly ignored questions about speculation that Apple might file a lawsuit against Palm regarding the implementation of multi-touch in the Pre. He emphatically stated that there are no issues with Apple over patents right now.

Details about WebOS are sketchy right now. The OS is supposed to support a number of web standards, and no new information was introduced.  The one point that Colligan did hit home was that any web developer should be able to develop for the Pre and for WebOS.

Colligan also said that Palm will be introducing an online software store, a la the App Store; but also mentioned that it won't be the only place Pre users will be to purchase software.

Windows 7 Ultimate will ship without Ultimate Extras.  MS has pulled them from the product offering, and from Windows Entirely.

The software giant’s approach will be to build to the feature list.  They just don’t have the capacity to continue to deliver features that don’t fall within their regular release cycle.  I get it... I’m all about Change and Release Management.  Anyway, as a result, they are dropping the little goo-jams from Windows.

While MS will deliver Windows 7 Ultimate as one of the six SKU’s it plans to release between now and sometime in 2010, again, the “extras,” what ever they were (like Windows DreamScene, for example) won’t be included.

Originally, Ultimate Extras were supposed to be some of the goodies you got for shelling out the extra shekels for the top of the line version of Vista.  Unfortunately, MS never really stuck to the planned and very public release schedule for Ultimate Extras and the feature set came under a lot of fire. 

MS tried to drop back 10, regroup, punt, and refocus their efforts on them, to no avail.  The add-ons just don’t seem to be in the cards. The last time that Microsoft offered new Extras to Vista Ultimate users was in September 2008, when it released a puzzle game, Windows Tinker; a sound effects package to go with the game; and a trio of DreamScene video screensavers.

I have Vista Ultimate, and I’ve used DreamScene.  Its a cool little add-on, but it eats some processing cycles and a bit of RAM.  I’ve also had Windows crash a few times on my MBP due to WDS.  The only way to get it back was to reboot, and anyone with ANY Windows experience knows that just a pain in the but and a waste of time.  When I had to recently rebuild the Vista side of my MBP, I did it without using WDS.

Did/do you use any of the Vista Ultimate Extras?  I’d love to hear from everyone to see if they find the add-ons worth the extra cost of Vista Ultimate or if they are just a waste of time, and computing power.  Why don’t you join us in the discussion and tell us what you think?

One of the things that many people have been saying over and over again regarding Psystar is that they don't stand a snowball's chance of winning against Apple in this whole Open PC/OSX licensing case they have brought against the Cupertino computer manufacturer.  The case has been thrown out, resubmitted and now, apparently...continued.  The snowball didn't melt... I must have missed the weather forecast last night on the news.

Last week, a federal judge ruled that Psystar can continue its countersuit against Apple. I think this is their second real win for them in the case, but seriously...who's keeping score..?  Apparently the judge is, because he also alluded to others being able to sell OSX based PC's if Psystar can prove its allegations.

So, Psystar can amend its lawsuit against apple, and change their countersuit, originally alleging that Apple broke antitrust laws, to state that they instead stretched copyright laws by tying OSX to their hardware.

The Judge also indicated that if proven successfully, some charges against Psystar would be moot.  Apple has constantly claimed that Psystar hasn't been acting alone here.  The judge indicated that those individuals involved may be protected by any ruling handed down in Psystar's favor.  We'll have to wait and see...However, Apple said that they would reveal the names of these parties, currently identified as John Does 1-10, as they discovered who they were.

While Apple does have the right to determine how its software is licensed and used, the final decision will be governed as the case plays out. Again, wait and see...

Psystar has a week to submit its altered counterclaims, after which Apple must answer within 20 days. Alsup also told the two parties to get to work. "Both sides should be taking discovery and preparing themselves for trial and/or summary judgment," the judge concluded.  The case is currently scheduled to begin trial on Nov. 9.

Hello, my name is Christopher, and I like beer. In fact, in my humble opinion, there is only ONE thing that I like about living in Chicago during the winter – my garage keeps my beer colder than my refrigerator.  When they say in those beer commercials that the beverage is best served cold, come to my house between Thanksgiving and Tax Day.  The beer here will be chilled to perfection, and likely, worth the trip into the Great White (Almost) North.

When Gear Diary was recently approached by Terra Keramik and asked if we’d like to review their Glasi Hergiswil Pilsner Beer Glasses, I jumped at the opportunity.  Let’s take a quick look and see how they did.

There are just a few rules at my house when it comes to beer consumption:

1.  All beer must be purchased in bottles, not cans. Beer in cans tastes vastly different than beer in bottles, and I don’t like, what appears to be, a metallic taste, in canned beer.
2.  When consuming beer directly from the bottle, it must have a beer-cozi wrapped around it. It keeps the beer cold, and absorbs condensation off the bottle. I don’t want beer bottle rings on my tables.
3.  Beer is best consumed from a pilsner glass, if available. Some of the better beers really need to breathe a bit before consumption. The best way to allow the beer to breathe is to pour it into a pilsner glass.

The first two rules are easy to comply with. The last one, well, in a house with little kids...maybe not so much. I don’t have many pilsner glasses, as they usually get knocked over and the contents spilled (little tiny bubbles... those that remember the Bud commercial will understand).  On occasion, the glasses have even broken.  Very sad...

Honestly, pilsner glasses can be found anywhere and everywhere.  Usually, as just about anyone will tell you, a glass is a glass.  My experience is similar, but there’s something special about the Glasi Hergiswil glasses that you really have to experience.

Taken directly from their site,

The glasses are handcrafted and mouth blown. They are cone shaped with an even taper that focuses the hop aroma of a beer and maintains a robust head. The development and retention of a foam head is important because it enhances the trapping of certain volatiles that evaporate from beer to create its aroma.

Each beer glass is individually mouth-blown from lead-free crystal glass. The superior quality of these premium glasses is evident in their clarity, brilliance, timbre and finish. We recommend to hand wash the glasses. Handcrafted in Switzerland by Glasi Hergiswil since 1817.

As you can see from the pictures below, the glass is really superior in quality. The glass is thick, the base wide and sturdy; and again, its constructed from one contiguous piece of glass.

The glass is pictured here with one of my favorite local, micro-brews, Goose Island 312 (local to the Chicago-land area only, hence the name, 312, after downtown Chicago’s area code).  The beer was good to begin with, the Glasi Pilsner glass only made it that much better.

The only thing that might be considered a problem is the price of the glasses.  At $29 a glass, a set of four is $116, plus shipping.  However, if you are so inclined, these glasses are truly awesome, and if you’re a beer-oisseur, like me, then these are a must have, and well worth the cost.

Cost: The Glasi Hergiswil Pilsner beer glass is $29, and can be purchased directly from their site.

What I liked: The quality of the glass is amazing.  The base is wide enough to support a full glass of beer, and there doesn’t seem to be a week point anywhere in the glass.  Its constructed from a single, handcrafted, mouth blown piece of crystal.

What Needs Improvement:  Nothing, really. The product is truly awesome, and I’d recommend them to any serious beer drinker, anywhere.

There’s been a lot of speculation about whether the User Account Control widget in Windows 7 creates a security hole or not.  IDG News Service reported on 31-Jan-09 that it did.

The UAC in Vista is an all or nothing thing, and quite honestly, it “brings you to a sad, sad realization. (Confirm or Deny)”  Most everyone that I know of, has simply turned the bloody thing off. Its really nothing more than a nuisance.  I’m all for “are you sure” dialogs at the appropriate time; but the UAC in Vista goes way over board.

In Windows 7, Microsoft took a different approach.  The UAC provides the user with a few different settings that gives them better control over the tool. The UAC was originally intended to give users more control over their applications and settings, and prevent users without admin credentials from making material changes to the configuration and makeup of the PC.

Because of the way its implemented in Vista, it sometimes gets in even an admin’s way. As I mentioned, in Widnows 7, things are a bit different.  Now, the UAC can be configured to only notify users when programs make changes to the computer.  The tool can now distinguish between the activities of a user and a 3rd party program; and when certain conditions apply (with the application of a signed security certificate, for example) the UAC won’t bother you.

Recently, it was discovered that the use of some basic VBScript could create an application that could make changes to the UAC without notifying the user.  This, basically would allow the execution of malicious code without the user knowing it, hence the security hole. 

Since IDG originally published this report, I’ve seen a rebuttal from MS that claims this is not the case.  I’m still not 100% convinced, but you can bet your bippy that I am going to keep my ear close to the ground on this one and will report back on this when I have further information.

Music is a big deal to me.  I carry both a 60GB 5G iPod and an 8GB 2G iPod Touch. To say I have the music in me is an understatement.  While the title of this article refers in part to an obscure song from the 1980’s, its really meant to garner some thought as to where background Push services are for the iPhone.

Yes.  Its been a while since I’ve written an iPhone based article.  I was very disappointed with the device, and sold it in early November. However, that doesn’t mean that I don’t miss what it can do. In fact, I do, every day...or at least the consumer in me does (not the business guy...)

However, you will remember that Push was the iPhone feature that was supposed to let non-core Apple (or third party apps) communicate with the rest of the device so that they could “run” in the background. Unfortunately, this service, originally promised in the 2.1 version of the iPhone/iPod Touch firmware, was pulled during its beta phase due to problems.  It still hasn’t found its way into the devices.

There nothing official on where and when the service will make it into a firmware update, though Apple hasn’t pulled the plug on the idea completely. There was a great deal of speculation at Macworld on what was going on with it – abandoned, still in the works, or set aside for a different system. No one really knows.  Apple as always, isn’t' saying much of anything on it or their decision.

According to The Unofficial Apple Weblog, we’re approaching the end of the known iPhone roadmap.  There’s already speculation of new hardware (the iPhone Nano is rumored to be due in June), and they say that if we don’t get Push in that refresh, we likely won’t get it at all.

I’m not certain what’s going to happen. I’ve checked around, and while I’m no Apple expert, I haven’t seen anyone, at any site, give us anything to hang our Push hat on.  At best this is a definite maybe…

What are your thoughts?  I’d love to hear what you have to say.  Why don’t you join us in the discussion and give us your thoughts?

Fellow Windows buff and columnist, Mary Jo Foley had a very interesting column today. It seems that Microsoft is going to release six (6) different Windows 7 versions or SKU’s when the operating system finally hits the streets later this year or early next. That’s very close, if not exactly how, Vista was released just over two years ago. The decision, as you may guess, is causing quite the uproar with many, yours truly included.

As Mary Jo says, Microsoft just isn’t going to reintroduce the 2 SKU line up, like they did with Windows XP (Home and Pro editions).  They have taken too many hits for being too inflexible, and it seems six different editions, providing some variety, is they direction they are headed in.  However, that’s being met with a lot of issues.  Some potential Win7 users are suggesting an a la carte methodology.  In that setup, you install the base version, go through the install, and then pay for the additional features you add to your installation.  While that may seem desirable, from a support perspective, its a nightmare.  The menuing paradigm is nice, what we’re likely to wind up with at that point is a single version of Windows that costs, like,  $499, that NO ONE will be able to afford or want (and will likely pirate the crap out of), if we even get it.  From support perspective, its going to be a nightmare, as who knows what features are going to be added/pared with which features, creating a bazillion different “versions” of Windows, that even Bill Gates couldn’t imagine.

But, here’s the biggest driver for the 6 different SKU’s, in my opinion - MS still wants to charge a premium price for their OS. If they want to be successful now, they are going to have to seriously reevaluate margins for these SKU's.  In this economy, if Windows 7 is just as expensive as Windows XP/Vista, the number of copies sold at retail, compared to both XP and Vista are going to drop like a rock.

Interestingly enough, I think the same can be said for Apple, who's OS, while more affordable at $129, without Activation/DRM, has a EULA that requires the OS to be run on Apple hardware ONLY, which comes at a HUGE price premium. However, they seem to be doing something right, as their market share is now estimated at 8-10% of the PC market (world wide??); so its definitely growing.

With the way things are going to be going, I think that pricing for these SKU's is going to dictate how many copies get sold legally and how many get pirated/cracked and downloaded via bit torrent apps. Even at $200-$300, most of us can't afford to lay down that kind of money for an OS (full or upgrade) when we're having to consider pay cuts just to keep a job.

If Billy G. and Stevie B. want to gain back share, or want to insure that people move to Windows 7 when it IS released, I suggest they adopt a price structure closer to Apple's: $130-$175 a copy. (stratify that price range among the remaining 4 SKU's in the middle any way you like).

But, I’d love to hear what everyone else has to say.  Why don’t you join us in the discussion, and tell us what you think?

Some of the best things about having an iPod is being able to play YOUR music just about anywhere, any time you want.  If you’re the kind of person that has the music in them all the time, allowing it to resonate in your ears when you want or need it to is important (hence, the reason why you bought your iPod in the first place).

Like many older cars, my 2001 Honda CRV doesn’t have any kind of a built-in MP3 connection.  What I do have is a cassette deck and an AM/FM radio. As such, I’m left with a couple of solutions:

1.  A Cassette Adapter – This is the kind of headset adapter that fits in the cassette deck of your car, and has you plug a cable into the device’s headset jack.  Back in the day, these were used a lot for portable CD players that you might carry in your car.
2.  Wearing Headsets in your Car – This isn’t the smartest thing to do, and is illegal in many states.  You can’t cover both your hears and drive at the same time. Its not a good idea.
3.  An FM Transmitter – Plug the transmitter into your cigarette lighter and your device into this gadget and pump the sound through your car’s FM radio.

A while back, USB Fever was kind enough to send me an FM Transmitter for my 5G iPod.  The device works very well. Simply connect the iPod to the device via the bottom connector, and it will charge and pump the iPod’s sound through the car stereo.  However, I have noticed a couple of things about the device:

1.  The volume control on the iPod doesn’t work when connected to the FM transmitter.  If you want to turn the volume up to 11, you’re going to have to do it on your car stereo.
2.  The device doesn’t work at all with the iPod 3G or iPod Tough 2G.  It won’t charge the device or pump the sound through the car stereo (and you wouldn’t want to, without it charging the device.
3.  The device turns off after about 5 minutes of inactivity. If you don’t have audio pumping through the device for about 5 minutes, it will turn itself off, though it will still charge your iPod.  This is ok, but still bothers me a lot.  I don’t know that I like the feature, especially since it doesn’t run on any kind of batteries. I’d much prefer that it continue to stay connected to the FM station that I have selected, simply waiting for me to turn the iPod back on, or for me to unpause the playback.

Price: It appears the model I was sent has been replaced by a few different models.  You can see all of USB Fever’s FM trasmitter choices here.

What I liked: My 5G iPod’s sound pumped through my car stereo.  Power to my iPod.

What needs improvement: It would be nice if this particular model worked with both my Touch and my 5G iPod.  As it doesn’t, I’m going to have to find one that will work with both. Having more than one of these isn’t practical.